SYNOPSIS
Footprints to Freedom: The Legacy of the Underground Railroad
Lois A. Helland, © 2011
The painful loss of her mother and father to a cholera epidemic has left Melissa Porter with serious doubts about her faith in God, and although she is fulfilling her parents’ dream of homesteading in southwest Michigan, Melissa finds it hard to accept the hope and love that life on the frontier offers. Together with her husband, Matthew, Melissa cares for her aging mother-in-law and a little boy named Mattie.
When strife between slave and free states brings conflict to her peaceful pioneer community, Melissa is shocked to discover a young fugitive and her newborn baby hiding in the woods. She secretly provides food and shelter for the runaways until a trip to the settlement of Big Island reveals a way for them continue on their journey. Shortly after helping the fugitives escape, Melissa is visited by Dr. Nathan Thomas–a devout Quaker and an anti-slavery sympathizer.
Matthew spends the last days of fall laboring to build a new frame home for the little family while Melissa harvests the bounty of her garden—and contemplates Dr. Nathan’s surprising request. Indian summer departs with Matthew as he leaves for two months of trapping in the north woods, and the first snowfall of the season arrives early.
Winter unleashes its fury on the prairie, and Melissa and Mattie are awakened by the sound of tapping in the middle of the night. One single candle, glowing in the window, draws furtive visitors to her door—and with them comes a frightening epidemic. Mattie becomes ill, and Melissa is forced to board the fugitives longer than expected. When she finally attempts to sneak the runaways to the Thomas’ home, the weather takes a turn for the worse and Melissa receives an astonishing message from Dr. Nathan: “Station CLOSED to ALL deliveries! Proceed to next stop!”
Overwhelmed with fear, the young woman is driven to her knees in prayer for the first time since the tragic death of her parents. Just then, Matthew returns home unexpectedly and discovers his wife’s dilemma and Mattie’s feverish condition. Against Melissa’s protests, Matt rides to town to get much-needed medicine—and help—from Dr. Nathan.
Melissa and her mother-in-law tend the sick child and watch anxiously until Matt returns with Dr. Nathan and medicine, wagons and drivers. Slave catchers from Kentucky are holed up at the doctor’s house. The Porters have no choice but to leave Mattie in the care of his grandmother and help transport the slaves all the way to the next station. When heavy snowfall makes it impossible for the drivers to guide their teams, Matthew and Dr. Nathan leave Melissa at the Big Island settlement and lead the horses on foot through the drifts to Battle Creek.
Meanwhile, an urgent message arrives from Matt’s mother. Melissa must trust the unknown courier—a black man—to deliver her and the additional medicine needed to save Mattie’s life. Disaster ensues when a slave catcher follows them and takes Melissa’s escort hostage, claiming the man is a runaway slave with a bounty on his head. Melissa, aware of the danger she is in, begins to call out to God again, pleading for help for herself and Matthew and little Mattie.
Miraculously, the fugitives are safely delivered to Battle Creek. Matt and Dr. Nathan mount horses and return with haste to Big Island. When they hear that Melissa has gone to help Mattie, they hurry on to the cabin. En route, they find Melissa, the bounty hunter and a fugitive, half frozen on the prairie. Once again, Matthew and the doctor lead on foot while the refugees are carried on the backs of the horses.
Fearing the worst, the entourage returns home to find that Mattie’s fever has broken and the child’s life has been spared. Melissa recognizes God’s faithfulness in her time of trouble and decides to embrace the faith she had almost abandoned.
The Joy of Hope Fulfilled 